Chapter 6. AIDS FOR WOMEN’S GROUPS AND MEETINGS

The design of this chapter is to assist leaders and speakers of women’s groups and meetings to make Bible and Christian female characters applicable to women of today. To these weekly gatherings of women come wives, mothers and widows whose lives are shadowed with grief and for whom life has many cares, problems and heartaches. Many among them do not know the Saviour who, as He died, was solicitous about the future welfare of His own mother. For all such, the devotional, fellowship hour spent with kindred spirits is an oasis in the desert. It is also a season presenting the consecrated leader or speaker with magnificent opportunity of imparting spiritual uplift for many a trouble-laden woman.

Because of the heavy responsibilities of home life, and the influence of a woman’s influence therein, gatherings for women should be of a bright and inspiring character and calculated to send them back home to live for God amid all their trials and tasks so that they can experience the sentiment expressed by Alfred Tennyson that—

The path of duty was the way to glory:

He that ever following her commands,

On with toil of heart and knees and hands,

Through the long gorge to the far light has won

His path upward, and prevailed,

Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scaled

Are close upon the shining table-lands

To which our God Himself is moon and sun!

Most suitable and suggestive literature for leaders of women’s groups and mother’s meetings has been prepared by the Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan. First of all there are the volumes by Al Bryant under the title of Encyclopedia of Devotional Programs for Women’s Groups. Volume One, for instance, contains completely planned programs on a variety of themes. Then there are the three volumes by Lora Lee Parrot on Programs for Women’s Groups and her companion volume on Missionary Devotional Programs for Women’s Groups containing eighteen programs with the missionary slant. All of these most commendable aids follow a similar pattern of

Hymns to Sing,

Scripture to Read,

Meditation to Preach,

Prayer to Offer.

With the publishers' gracious permission we herewith include a sample from each of the above programs.

From Al Bryant’s most helpful collection we cite the following program for a Thanksgiving Day women’s meeting—